The first batch of 100 women soldiers in the Army is likely to be commissioned by March 2021, Army sources said on Wednesday. They said the commissioning will take place after the first batch completes its training,which will commence in December this year.

The women soldiers will be commissioned into the Corps ofMilitary Police of the Indian Army."The training period -- of 61 weeks --is similar to that of male soldiers. Batches comprising similar number ofsoldiers will be trained and commissioned every year," said a senior Armyofficial.

Officials said the cadre of women soldiers in the Corps ofMilitary Police will be maintained at a fixed number of 1,700 corps. Thisnumber will be achieved by filling in the corps in batches.

Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Military Police,Lieutenant General Ashwani Kumar had last week interviewed Lieutenant ColonelNandani for training instructor's position.

In the Corps of Military Police, women soldiers will take upduties of policing cantonments and other Army establishments. They will alsowork in co-operation with civil police of various state governments as well asthe Centre, besides handling prisoners of war and maintenance of rules. Theywill also investigate cases of crime.

At present, women in the Army work only in engineering,medical, legal, signals and educational wings.

The objective behind inducting women soldiers in the Army isto increase their representation in the services.